Seymour Villas, London, SE20

A three double bedroom flat spread across the (top) second and third floors of a handsome white stucco Victorian villa on Seymour Villas, giving far-reaching views and excellent light. There are two bathrooms, masses of storage, and the building is very well-presented and exceptionally well-maintained — you can see that from the street, it’s one of those shares of freehold buildings where the owners are proactive, opposed to being reactive, and it shows!

The flat extends to 1,298 sq ft (inc’ eaves), which is more space than many local houses! You enter at the first floor level and climb to the second floor, where the living room, kitchen, and bedroom one sit; the third floor holds bedrooms two and three, along with another bathroom. The layout means the flat lives more like a house or maisonette than a standard flat

The living and dining room is the flat's standout space. At 17'7 x 14'0 it's a genuinely large room — large enough for a full corner sofa, a proper dining table for six (or more!) and still have floor space left over. The pair of arched sash windows face the front of the building and, because this room is on the second floor of a tall building, the outlook is above the roofline of the neighbouring properties and into open sky and tree canopy — you notice it immediately. The original fireplace with its cast-iron insert sits on the rear wall, and the period style coving runs along the full perimeter.

The kitchen has been properly fitted out — shaker-style units in a warm off-white, solid wood worktops throughout, a Belfast sink with a high-specification pull-out tap, a gas hob, and a large extractor. Open shelving on the side wall handles the everyday items and keeps the worktops clear. A sash window next to the sink looks down onto the street below, which gives it more light and life than a rear-facing kitchen of this size would usually have.

Bedroom one is on the same floor as the living room at 16'4 x 12'0, which makes it a genuinely large principal bedroom. It has the same arched window detail as the living room, the same period coving, and an original fireplace — the proportions are those of a Victorian reception room, because that's effectively what it is. There's room for a double bed, freestanding storage, and a desk without any compromise. Notably, the flat could be used as a two-bedroom, and this bedroom could be repurposed into a proper dining room, which would work really well as it’s adjacent to the kitchen.

The bathroom on this floor has a walk-in shower with grey metro tiling, a large sash window with frosted glass that fills the room with natural light, wood-effect flooring, and a period-style column radiator. It's a well-finished room and a good size for a shower-only bathroom.

Up to the top floor, and you’ll find two double bedrooms, both of which are very quiet, as they don’t adjoin another flat and are at the top of such a huge building, so are far removed from the road, making them pretty serene spaces. One of the rooms (the one above the living room) has an eastern aspect, so it gets great light in the morning.

The bathroom on the top floor has a bath with a shower over it with grey metro tiling, a large skylight window that fills the room with natural light, and gives exceptional ventilation, and wood-effect flooring.

Outside, the flat has its own section of the rear garden. It isn't separated off with fencing — the residents of the building get on well and have kept it open — so in practice it feels like a generous shared garden rather than a token strip. There's a shed for storage, and the garden gets good light given its aspect and the relatively open outlook to the rear.

Seymour Villas sits within easy reach of both Crystal Palace and Penge, which means you get the benefit of both these fantastic areas. The Triangle at Crystal Palace is around a mile up the hill — independent shops, cafes, restaurants, and some of the best pubs in south London, alongside the Crystal Palace Food Market on Haynes Lane every Saturday. If you haven't been, it should become a fixture: small producers, serious food, and reliably good coffee.

Crystal Palace Park is just under a mile away — 200 grade II listed acres containing the National Sports Centre with gym, squash, trampolining, beach volleyball, and an on-site physio, as well as a boating lake, urban farm, and the Victorian dinosaur sculptures that remain one of south London's more enjoyable surprises.

For transport, the flat has genuine options. Anerley station is 0.3 miles away — around a seven-minute walk — with trains to London Bridge and West Croydon, and Overland services via Dalston to Shoreditch. Norwood Junction is a mile away and worth knowing about: a direct train to London Bridge in 13 minutes, which is one stop and one of the faster commutes available from SE20. Birkbeck is 0.7 miles away for tram connections to Beckenham Junction and East Croydon, the latter giving you fast National Rail services in multiple directions.

On Anerley Hill, close to the flat, Café Chic is a well-regarded Persian café with a good garden for weekend brunch. Next door is Bob Wines and, a little further along, the Chatsworth Bakehouse — a local institution with a loyal queue for sandwiches, focaccia, and brownies. The Crystal Palace Wine Club is a recent and welcome addition for evenings closer to home.